The Tall Trees of Home

I'm looking for inspiration today. Before you ask? Nope, still no forward movement on "Cold Vengeance."

These pictures of Redwood trees are very much like my area. Sometimes I forget to look around me for inspiration. My days are often spent playing catch up on Laundry, dishes and dust. Around me, there are numerous opportunities to experience serenity and peace, yet, I miss them in my frantic day to day life.

In "Cold Vengeance", Jessica comes home to California after being away for three years. I try to think "What would that feel like?" I take all the beauty around me for granted and so did my character. Growing up in the Napa Valley, I had no idea that I was priviledged. I took vinyards and cherry blossoms for granted. When the grapevines turned deep shades of red and yellow, I only thought "Fall is here". Tourists were a nuisance and I wanted to escape. It's hard to believe, but I didn't want to live in the Napa Valley. After two years of college, I came home with a new attitude. I explored the valley and discovered it's back roads and hidden places. It was never home for me.

Here, I knew the minute I drove into Eureka. I love Humboldt County. The mixture of new ideas and old hard working mentality creates this pattern that I've never seen anywhere else. Our politics are heated and protests are common. The University gives us youth and lumber gives us our history. Living here are fishermen, loggers, students, artists and blue collar workers. It isn't always a peaceful melting pot. In a way, it is a microcasm of the rest of our world. Different cultures and different viewpoints all living in one place.

The Redwood trees embody that for me. They're more like weeds. Once a Redwood tree grows in a spot, it will stay there. You can't burn it out, kill it or move it. Like me, it survives and flourishes in the spot where it's planted. I was always told, "Grow where you're planted." I look to the Redwoods for my inspiration.

What is your inspiration?

posted at 12:31 PM by Jennifer :: -------------o0o-------------